State health and family welfare minister Surjya Kanta Mishra will flag off a 12-day AIDS awareness campaign at the Bhagirathi Neotia Woman & Child Care Centre (BNWCC), Rawdon Street, on September 26.

To run through the festival days, Operation Overcome is being organised by BNWCC in association with the State AIDS Prevention and Control Society, Sonata Foundation and National Cadet Corps. “As part of our corporate social responsibility towards women and children, we have joined hands with these agencies to create an awareness platform against this dreaded disease. The programme will sensitise and create mass awareness among all sections, especially the youth who are today most susceptible to AIDS,” explains Madhu Neotia, director of the hospital.

The campaign will consist of road shows and rallies in red-light areas and other high-risk zones of the city. The 60-odd road shows in 12 days will also go to local puja pandals, clubs, government and non-government housing complexes. “The festival presents us with the opportunity to reach out to a huge number of people,” says Pranay Dutta of Sonata Foundation.